A mining company were trying to position some 25mm poly pipe lines down an old pit embankment. The poly lines were attached to a large poly pipe at the top of the embankment and they weren’t able to go much beyond the large pipe as the embankment was unstable and there was risk of falling. They attempted to throw it out, but the embankment was not steep enough for it fall and unwind under gravity. They also tried to tie a weight to the lines but still couldn’t get it far enough out.

Skyhook Imagery were engaged to help out. We modified our Novel Applications Drone with a payload dropping device. The drone has an excellent power to weight ratio with a folding design. It was small enough to transport to site as luggage with batteries that were under the 100W/hr airline limit. Drone and payload dropping device were controlled from an integrated control system meaning that the job could be performed via single operator.

The task involved dropping 85 lengths of poly pipe and was completed within the estimated time of about 2 days. There were no incidents and the drone performed exceptionally well given the heat, humidity and dusty environment.